Talking...or not so much???

[Skyes_crew]

My girl is 13 months old now. I know they say both male and female ringnecks can talk, but I have yet to hear a single clear word out of her. She whistles and imitates noises around the house, but no talking. I spend on average, 4-5 hours a day interacting with her. Will she ever learn to talk or is she just not a talker? Just wondering if there are others with hens that maybe talked later or just never talked. I love my little girl regardless, but it would be so cute to hear her voice. I love the IRN talking voice. Thanks all

[sheyd]

at 13 months it is still too early to tell if your bird is male or female, unless you've dna sexed your bird- as far as talking goes, I've had a male who never uttered a single word or whistled the whole time I had him and have a female who won't shutup- she talks and whistles more than one of my males who knows over 20 words- so it all comes down to the birds individual personality

[nathan.dv]

I have an IRN which up until recently i called a "him", but realised that after three years of not getting the black ring,is probably a "she" . She (if that is right) doesn't speak very often, but she has learnt to say "hello" and used to say it quite often (although i could never get her to repeat it when i said it to her, it was always at random times). When she did say it, it was not very clear, but you could tell that she was saying "hello". I don't think that she says it much anymore, but thats probably because i stopped repeating it to her regularly. She mimics house hold noises (especially the dog barking!) very clearly, and she whistles a lot. She also makes this other noise, which sounds a lot like talking, it's just no one can work out what she's saying . So to answer your question- my IRN can talk-although not very clearly, but i'm not certain that she is a she. Now i feel like trying to teach her to talk again....i might see if anyone has any tips.

[MissK]

Drop a hammer on your toe - she'll talk!

More seriously, if you say whatever it is with some sincerity and emotion, the bird is more likely to pick it up. That's how we get all those cussing parrots we hear about. My bird has a few stock words, and they're a bit hard to understand. Where he gets really amazing, though, is how he sometimes repeats things the first time he hears them, like an instant replay. And of course they are heard once and never again. It's remarkable. It happened a few times and I thought it was a coincidence, until one day I was walking past the cage and talking to my dog, not even looking at the bird. I was saying "Ruby come with me; I don't want you to eat my breakfast" (off the counter), and as soon as I almost closed my mouth, Rocky said loud and clear, "my breakfast!". True story. Amazing.

-MissK

[Skyes_crew]

lol MissK...sounds like you're life with your animals is fun:)

Just an update since the last time I posted here. We found out Skye was in fact a boy through DNA. I was still extremely frustrated though because like I said, I spend countless hours with him and he never even sounded like he was trying to talk.

Now for an amazing story of my own. Yesterday I was in my garden and my husband came running out to say that Skye said thank you. Of course I missed his first words lol. I heard not a sound out of him for the rest of the day except for his usual whistles and calls. Then today, the 14th, my birthday of all days, he finally said thank you in front of me. And then he kept repeating it over and over. It was soooo cute. Clear as a bell too. A little while later I'm watching TV and I hear him saying it again, then all of a sudden he says watcha doin. Before the shock could wear off, I hear him say good baby and give me kiss. It was like he saved it all up and delivered it all in one fabulous performance on my birthday. What a good bird ;) now if I could only teach him to do laundry.

Thank you all for your opinions and advice. As always it is much appreciated.